The Georgia Southern Eagles came into this week riding the high of an amazing 24-23 victory last Saturday at Paulson Stadium against Marshall.
A game in which the Eagles trailed 23-3 with under nine minutes to go in the fourth quarter. The loss of starting quarterback J.C. French didn’t phase the Eagles, who caught some momentum when Indiana transfer Dexter Willaims was inserted. He led the team on three scoring drives in just over six and a half minutes, thanks in large part to two defensive turnovers, and connected with Derwin Burgess on the game-winning 34-yard pass with one minute left in the game.
“Obviously it was a great win for our football team,” said coach Clay Helton. “The one thing I have learned is it is extremely hard to win games in this conference. The two takeaways I have after that game are how important it is for us to get turnovers, and how our special teams units continue to shine. I do think there are some things to clean up on offense as we had six penalties and had a lot of third and longs.”
The big question after the way Willaims played Saturday was put to rest quickly by Helton who said on more than once occasion at his press conference Monday that J.C. French was cleared to play this week and will be the starter Saturday against JMU.
Williams will serve as the No. 2 and freshman Tyler Budge as the No. 3 as David Dallas has still not been cleared to play.
“I go by three things when determining who will play; Are you medically cleared? What is the confidence in the player? And, what does my gut say?” Helton remarked. “J.C. has been going through protocol for two days and has been cleared.
“We continue to monitor that and hopefully there will be no regression. You lose your starting job when you lack production over an extended period of time or you are in a position where you cannot perform due to injury or something that is going on. Right now, that is not the case.”
This week the Eagles will be tested by a James Madison team who is ranked first in the Sun Belt in total offense and total defense. On offense they are led by quarterback Alonza Barnett who has thrown for 1,472 yards and 15 touchdowns with only one interception. He has also run for 325 yards and six touchdowns.
“They are really an explosive offense,” said Eagle defensive lineman Issac Walker. “Alonza has been playing really good ball and I feel like their run game is also explosive and that makes it difficult as he is a runner as well. I feel like we really need to key in on him, but they are a great team.'
Despite the win Saturday, the Eagles struggled once again on the ground as they rushed for only 93 yards. Saturday the Dukes come in allowing only 16 points per game and are particularly tough on opposing teams rushing attacks where they are holding offenses to just 107.8 yards per game.
“We know that JMU has a really good defense,” said offensive lineman Pichon Wimbley. “We really have to do a lot better as an offensive line of getting on the same page as the five up front. We have to be able to know our assignments and execute the blocks. We know we are going to have to run the ball this week to be successful.”
As a team James Madison ranks in the top 25 in 15 different categories and lead the Sun Belt in 10 of those. The Dukes lead the nation in turnovers with 17 and in turnover margin. The Eagles have created three turnovers in each of the last two games and Helton could see the game Saturday coming down to the winner of the turnover battle.
“Last week Marshall went into the game with only two total turnovers and we managed to get three,” Helton said. “Georgia State had only had a few and we created three against them. We have to find a way to make a quarterback feel uncomfortable.
“Barnett has 15 touchdowns to only one interception which is an unbelievable mark. They have forced 17 turnovers and lean on their defense a lot and I have been very impressed by what they do on that side of the ball.”
The two teams first met in 1986 when both were in FCS and the Eagles lead the series 8-2. James Madison won the first meeting which occurred in the 1-AA playoffs and didn’t win again until last year when they knocked off the Eagles in Harrisonburg 41-13. Kickoff is set for 4:00 Saturday at Paulson Stadium and the game will be televised on ESPN+.
